UFC on FX 5's Thiago Tavares: There's no such thing as overtraining

The cancellation of this past month’s UFC 151 event resulted in a financial hit for Thiago Tavares.

But he’s willing to eat the costs since it provided more time to train for his rescheduled bout at Friday’s UFC on FX 5 event.

“There’s no such thing as overtraining,” he told MMAjunkie.com (www.mmajunkie.com). “You can’t train too much. Whoever came up with that is a liar. If one trains too much, does one become too good or too fast?”

Tavares (17-4-1 MMA, 7-4-1 UFC) and fellow lightweight Dennis Hallman (51-14-2 MMA, 4-5 UFC) initially were slated to fight on Sept. 1, but following UFC 151’s cancellation, they were moved to UFC on FX 5, which takes place at Minneapolis’ Target Center. They compete in an FUEL TV-televised preliminary-card bout (5 p.m. ET/2 p.m. PT) bout prior to the FX-televised main card (8 p.m. ET).

The shift to the later date came at a cost, he said.

“The problem was a financial one,” he said. “I had already purchased five flights for my team. The UFC pays for some of them, but not all. I purchased four tickets for my team, and one for my father, to be more exact. Even though the airline credited us for canceling our trip, they docked us 30 percent (of the ticket prices). That translates into a few thousand dollars.”

Now rescheduled Tavares, who’s won three “Fight of the Night” bonuses during his five-plus years in the UFC, now looks for his third straight win and his fourth victory in five fights. Most recently, he scored a TKO win over Spencer Fisher and a decision victory over Sam Stout.

The extra training time, the 27-year-old said, has him confident he’ll continue the surge.

“The loss (of the UFC fight), gladly, was only financial,” he said. “I was well trained, I had to continue training, and now I’m even better trained. Not much changed with my preparation. I’m feeling fine and ready. I can’t wait to step into the octagon to put everything I trained into practice. I can hardly wait. I haven’t been this anxious before. I’m anxious to show my evolution. I’ve trained and improved significantly since my last fight in January. I want to show this to the fans in the U.S. and in Brazil. They’ll see an even better Thiago.”

Tavares, who’s previously trained with American Top Team in Florida and Alkmaar Gym in Holland, now runs his own team out of the Brazilian city of Florianopolis. He’s got a host of prospects on the squad, including Jungle Fight champion Ivan Jorge, Nazareno Malegarie, Edmilson “Kevin” Souza and Ricardo Tirloni. He also has promoted half a dozen MMA events and owns a restaurant in the city.

But despite his entrepreneurial spirit, he remains primarily focused on his own fight game. In the UFC’s competitive and deep lightweight division, one slip-up can send a would-be contender far out of contention. And against a crafty vet such as Hallman, Tavares knows he needs to be extra careful.

“Sometimes he’s southpaw, sometimes he’s orthodox,” he said. “He changes his base a lot. Every time he fights, he shows something better, such as wrestling, ground and pound, etc. Despite being a veteran, he shows improvement every time. That’s what makes him very dangerous. I’ve had a ‘date’ with his fight videos every day during this fight camp.

“If I waver in any way, I’m sure he’s fully equipped to win the fight. I cannot afford a single error. He can finish the fight at any moment. He’s got heavy hands, especially when doing ground and pound. But my goal is to make no errors. I only envision one outcome: my hand raised at the end.”

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